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Benchmarks Confirm New MacBook Air Brings Decent Speed Improvements, MacBook Pro Less So

What about GPU improvement on MBA and 13" rMBP? What do you think is the difference between HD6000 and Iris 6100 in real world? It seems to me that there is no so much difference between them.

I would like to replace my 2010 MBP with the i7 MBA and connect it to an external full HD monitor. What do you think about this update? This will be my working mac but I would like to play some games sometimes:rolleyes:
 
Edgejr said:
What I really want to know is how the 13" MBA compares to the new ultra-thin MacBook. I want to upgrade my old MBA from 2009 and don't want to make the wrong decision. If the new MB has all the power and less caffeine, then that's the one I'll snag.

Thoughts?

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That's the other annoying thing about the new MB. One port. And more dongles to buy. Ugh.
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Wait for next year's processor skylake. It will bring wireless charging. I'm holding on upgrading my mba as well.
 
John Bokma said:
Out of curiousity how many ports do you (or anybody else reading this) use day to day on a notebook? I can only think of a thumb drive. Is it annoying to unplug the charger when you want to insert a thumb drive? For sure. But I expect 3rd party chargers with 2-3 extra USB 3 ports to show up within a few weeks. And since you already have to carry a charger with you, I don't see the problem. But I do think Apple has actually researched this, and it wouldn't surprise me if there are a lot of people out there are OK with just one port. They make sure their notebook is fully charged at the start of the day and the only thing they might connect "in the field" is a thumb drive. So one port is OK.
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To answer your question, not many. But I have a 2009 MacBook Air with one USB port and a display out port. I have found it inadequate several times. And that's with having a separate power connection, something the new MacBook will not have. If I have a small all-in-one machine, I want an all-in-one machine, not a nearly-all-in-one-except for everything else machine. :)

I'll admit it. I'm lazy and cheap (OK, not that cheap if I'm buying Apple stuff), and I don't want to carry around a bunch of dongles. I have found myself in situations where I don't have the special dongle and can't connect to the display, ethernet, etc. Pretty frustrating, particularly when my Windows colleagues look at my funny and ask why I need a dongle to do common connections.

I know we give up a bit with the small size. I just want a couple more ports that reduce my extra dongle expenditure, including 3rd-party adapters. Make sense?
 
erasr said:
I also agree with the guy who said about not needing more ports. The majority of people just need to plug it in. I'd put anything on that prediction. In fact obviously Apple agree - after all, they've only gone and done it with the MacBook.
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Or Apple knows the faithful will buy anyway and it's a lot more profitable to dump the all-in-one utility of multiple ports to go with just one. And Apple probably knows that their most faithful will then argue the merits of "just one" (compatible with just about nothing right now) and even play the "Apple knows best" and "just about nobody needs" cards. Bigger profits for selling a machine with less hardware utility AND greater accessory profits as owners of the machine come to realize they need to buy adapters and dongles to be able to hook up to stuff they already have... or encounter when taking their new mobile computer on the road and finding themselves in situations that do not replicate their at-home setup.

Again, I think Apple should kick out the battery too. At home, it can just be plugged into an electric socket so why does it need all that weight for those batteries? Those who need to use it without it being plugged in could just pay extra for an external battery pack.
 
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acctman said:
there is seriously zero reason to upgrade to a new rMBP if you have a 2014 model. heck even the 2013 are still decent
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The late 2013s are almost exactly the same as the 2014s (only differences were a 200mhz processor bump at each price point and 8gb standard at the low end). I guess there was an early 2013 though; is that what you meant?
 
penter said:
now how 'bout them new MacBooks, eh?!
can't wait to see the results for those
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Four oF NINE said:
So what are the improvements going to be with the new MacBook?
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Mike MA said:
Seems off topic, but my exact same thought aswell :D
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allanfries said:
Yes, I'm very curious on numbers for the new MacBook as well.
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http://www.cpu-monkey.com/en/cpu_benchmark-geekbench_3_multi_core-6

1.2 GHz Core M-5Y71 3727
1.2 GHz Core M-5Y70 3388
(5094/6251 for the i5/i7 air)

That's CPU performance. The GPU performance is hindered by the 5W limit, as seen in the Yoga 3 Pro Anandtech review:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9061/lenovo-yoga-3-pro-review/5

Edit:
Unlike the CPU, the GPU runs out of headroom much quicker. On any of the sustained benchmarks, the Yoga 3 Pro scores significantly down on both the Haswell-U and Broadwell-U GPUs. Ice Storm Unlimited is the outlier, since it is such a short benchmark.
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The HD6000 in the MacBook Airs have double the graphics execution units of the HD5500 in the XPS13.
 
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V.K. said:
Speaking for myself I definitely have to use several ports at once sometimes. For example, when I want to use a laptop in a classroom at the university I have to connect it to a projector (via VGA) AND to ethernet to authenticate the login. Apple seems to think that ethernet is not needed anymore. this might be true in a few years but not yet. Also, when doing presentations I need to plug in a usb stick for a pointer and as before connect it to a projector via VGA. this is two or sometimes 3 things I have to plug in at the same time. so as much as I like my laptops light, one port is just not enough for me now. so I'll probably get the 13'' air.
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Good thing they have more than one laptop model available, huh?

You might consider the 13" rMBP; I replaced a 2012 MBA with the latter, and life has been good. Worth the cost difference to me, anyway.
 
sehix said:
Good thing they have more than one laptop model available, huh?

You might consider the 13" rMBP; I replaced a 2012 MBA with the latter, and life has been good. Worth the cost difference to me, anyway.
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Ah, but aren't we all greedy? We all want all the power and flexibility yet in the lightest possible package. Schlepping my computer back and forth by bike means that each pound makes it much less pleasant. I want MBP power in a MB Nano (what I'm calling the new MacBook) configuration!

I long for the day when my laptop will transfer all the signals to peripheral devices including monitors without any connectors, yet charge fully in 30 minutes without a cord, and last 24 hours on one charge and full use. Am I asking too much? :)
 
sehix said:
Good thing they have more than one laptop model available, huh?
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Thank You for saying that, all these posts about a single port, are getting so old. You would think that Apple just announced that they were dropping all laptop lines for this one highly versatile USB-C port MacBook. And OMG, I might have to go and buy a dongle, never used one of those before! Oh and $79 (unless you buy a 3rd party one for $19 within a few weeks of release), I venture to guess my bar bill at the Irish pub tomorrow will be more than $79, and it will all be just pissed away.

Personally, I would buy one of the new MacBooks rather than the upcoming 12" iPad Pro. Then I don't need an external keyboard or cover, and I don't have to constantly clean my display because of finger prints!
 
New MBA just needs a resolution bump instead of releasing that $1400 netbook with bulky dongle.
 
Everyone's worried about the single port, but the bigger issue to me is the Core M processor and the price point. Weaker processor than the base Air (which is pretty limiting already) for the same price as the base rMPB. I was actually kind of excited about the announcement until I read into Core M.
 
x34 said:
several all at once:

-magsafe
-usb
-usb

+sd card here and there


--> 1 usb-c = LOL
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So basically... its having to choose between a 2 pound ultraportable, or the regular MBA, which has the ports you need. *FirstWorldProblems*.
 
Wow, so there is finally a Macbook Air faster than the Mid-2012 13" Macbook Pro. That didn't take long . . .

:cool:
 
Why does it always have to be the thinnest apple why can't they make a powerhouse MacBook Pro and make it decently slim kinda like the my 2012 MacBook Pro I've never once thought to myself man I wish my laptop was thinner...

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Naimfan said:
Wow, so there is finally a Macbook Air faster than the Mid-2012 13" Macbook Pro. That didn't take long . . .



:cool:
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Love my 2012 MacBook Pro with i7 in it! Made a SSD upgrade and I love it!!!
 
Zimks said:
Why does it always have to be the thinnest apple why can't they make a powerhouse MacBook Pro and make it decently slim kinda like the my 2012 MacBook Pro I've never once thought to myself man I wish my laptop was thinner...

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Love my 2012 MacBook Pro with i7 in it! Made a SSD upgrade and I love it!!!
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I am with you. I currently have a late 2013 i7 13" MBP

To get me to upgrade give me 13", quad core i7, discrete GPU, 16gb ram, taptic feedband trackpad. Make the computer a little bit thicker and or heavier to accommodate.
 
Zimks said:
I've never once thought to myself man I wish my laptop was thinner...
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For me it's not about thinness, it's about weight. I want a lighter laptop. It just so happens that that generally means thinner as well. So until they start making a balsa wood laptop, I'll go for a thinner one almost every time.
 
Benchmarks Confirm New MacBook Air Brings Decent Speed Improvements, MacBook ...

Is the Core i5 1,6 Ghz MBA 2015 more powerful than the core i5 2,7 Ghz MBP 13"'2015 because that models has so many more pixels to push?
 
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